Writing On The Desk
by LoveMeHugMeKissMeMissMe
Summary: Hermione and Draco's fighting has gone too far! Dumbledore results to some old methods to end their hatred once and for all. The two teenagers will graduate as friends and like it! Maybe even as more. Bad summary, good story, i promise.No HBP.
1. Chapter 1

A/N I know I already have three stories of my own, but like I said somewhere, I have a million ideas in my head that are bursting to get out. Expect at least one more, either by myself of my BEST friend, Emelyn (inspration for Emelyn in What's the Point of Living If You Don't Believe In Love?)…a.k.a. TempusToki. P.S. This is non-HBP Emelyn has that covered

Disclaimer: I do not own a majority of what you will be reading, nor do I have the faintest idea as to where this will be going

Chapter One: Writing On The Desk

"Oh just stuff it, Malfoy! Why don't you just go cry home to your Death Eater father!" Hermione Granger shouted in the middle of the Charms corridor.

Draco Malfoy squinted his eyes at the girl in front of him. How _dare_ she speak that way to him?

"Well at least my parents don't have dirt for blood!" It was all he could think of. He had used pretty much every other insult he had either in this argument, or during their past few.

Tensions had been running high during the first few weeks at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and this was the third fight in the past two weeks between Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy.

Both teens drew their wands out, aiming their own at the other. The corridor became quiet. Harry and Ron were standing behind Hermione, too nervous to make a sound with their hands itching towards their wands. The majority of the Slytherin seventh years was standing behind Draco, each ready to follow him.

"That's _it_ Malfoy!" Hermione yelled. "I'm tired of all your crap! Just because I have no magic in my blood whatsoever, you think that you are automatically better than me! NEWSFLASH! Money and heritage don't make you better!"

"Oh, you want to talk newsflash, huh, muudblood?" Draco smirked at the brunette before him. "I'll tell you a newsflash you might have heard. Not only do people not like know-it-all's, suck ups, or goody-two-shoes, but we don't respect them, admire them, or even care about them! Who cares if you know the difference between a werewolf and a wolf?"

"Well who cares if you've shagged every girl here? It's not like _that's_ gonna help you in life more than perfect grades?" Hermione spat out.

"Oh, are we jealous, little mudblood?"

"Nope," Hermione smirked, "just calling you a slut."

"Why you little-"

"ENOUGH!" Everyone looked up at the headmaster. Albus Dumbledore had heard most of the fight from the classroom he had been in and thought it time to break up the fight.

"Pro-"

"That will be quite enough, Miss Granger." Professor Dumbledore put his hand up to silence her. "Will the two of you please come with me?"

Hermione and Draco silently followed the old man, not to his office, but to an unused classroom in a deserted corridor.

"Alohomora." The door squeaked open. "In."

Hermione gulped as she entered the room. She took a seat at one of the few desks that were still upright and not broken. She looked down at the little table connected to it. They didn't use chairs like these in any of her classes. There was writing on almost every inch. She noticed, though, on the top left corner there was a large flower. It was about four inches all the way around with the initials 'H.U.G.' and 'D.A.M' in the middle. Hermione would have giggled at the initials if hers weren't so similar. How she hated her name, Hermione Alina Granger, H.A.G.

Draco had decided to sit on the teacher's desk, rather than in a chair, but he noticed on the chair next to his there was writing on the desktop. In large letters, taking up the entire surface, said 'D.A.M. + H.U.G'. With a smirk, he thought of his horrible name, Draco Ugo Malfoy, D.U.M.

The two snapped out of their embarrassed thoughts when they heard the door slam behind them. Dumbledore looked at the two, trying not to allow them to see his disappointment. These were the two brightest students of their year. Had they only met under different situations, oh well, it does not do to dwell.

"I have been watching the two of you for, Mr. Malfoy, would you please get off of my old desk. It is quite rude." Draco hopped off the desk and sat in the chair he was looking at before. Dumbledore saw this and smiled. "It is quite interesting that you choose that seat, Mr. Malfoy. It actually has a quite interesting story." Draco crossed his arms and slouched in the seat. "When I was a young teacher here, there were two students quite like the two of you. Both highly intelligent, very talented, and both had a strong hatred towards each other. Hazel Ursala Girard and Damian Alberto Mendez. I can tell you don't want details, but I would just like you two to know that they are now married, have five children, and neither of them have ever been happier."

"That was a lovely story sir," Draco said sarcastically, "but what does that have to do with us?"

"These two students spent nearly an entire seven years bickering, not unlike the two of you. I threatened punishments. I told them I could make them do a project together, switch bodies, live together, I got a few comments from Mr. Mendez for those two. I said that I could magically connect the two so that they would be unable to be more than three feet apart from each other, send them on a trip together, exchange program, my list went on (A/N hint to you reviewers if you want to see any of these ideas or more, tell me…it could happen)." Dumbledore looked from one child to the other. "I could do any of that and more to you two. Instead I will let you come up with a punishment."

Hermione and Draco looked at each other in disbelief. Draco couldn't believe what a fool the old man was being! _He_ will get to come up with his own punishment? This was too good to be true! Hermione, on the other hand, realized that this meant that they would have to speak to each other and compromise on something. She also knew that the wise headmaster had a few tricks up his sleeve if he looked so serene.

"I want you two to come up with something by dinner," Dumbledore said as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Hermione looked at her watch. It was half past three. Dinner won't be served for another two and a half hours, giving them plenty of time.

"Do whatever you want, mudblood." Draco got up and walked to the door. "Just tell the old kook that we agreed on it. DAMN!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked over at Draco, who was having trouble opening the door. "What now, Malfoy?"

"Bloody door won't open," Draco grunted.

Hermione sighed and pointed her wand at the door. "Alohomora."

"Didn't work, brainiac!" Draco exhaled heavily and stormed off to the chair behind the teacher's desk and crossed his arms. He leaned back on the back legs and looked up at the ceiling.

"Looks like when he said that he's serious about this whole thing," Hermione sighed. She conjured up a pen and started to draw on the little space left on the desk.

"Just don't talk to me for the next two hours." Draco began to rock the chair. "Dumbledore won't keep up locked in the entire time before now and dinner."

Hermione shrugged. This was _not_ how she wanted to spend her homework time. Wait! Homework! She looked around the floor for her bag. If she couldn't be with her friends, she may as well read or do some work!

"Shit," she said softly.

Draco pretended to nearly fall out of his seat. "Did I hear right? Did little miss two-shoes Granger just _cuss_?"

"Oh shove off Malfoy!" Hermione exclaimed. "I can't find my bag."

"Dumbledore obviously wants us to actually talk," Draco said in a defeated voice, putting the chair on all four legs.

Hermione sighed and looked around the room. "What's that?" She looked at the side of the desk Draco had been sitting at before. She walked over to the chair and lifted the side of the table-top, which easily flipped over, revealing an entire side of writing.

"Looks like this just got interesting," Draco said, reading over her shoulder.


	2. Smile Again

Chapter Two: Smile Again

"Listen, Professor Dumbledore is serious! He won't let us out until we figure something out, and I for one refuse to miss dinner just so I can be stuck in a room with slime like you!"

"Geez, cool it woman! Your shrieking is giving me a headache."

"I'm not shrieking! And maybe if I am it's because I'm the only one taking this seriously!"

"Hey, I'm for that whole body-switching thing, hehe."

"DAMIAN!"

"Listen Girard," Damian put the chair back on all four legs and looked up at the small brunette looking at him from across the room, "I don't want to be here either, but I'm not exactly gonna go get all chummy chummy with a mudblood like you."

Hazel stormed across the room and slapped Dramian hard across the cheek.

"DAMNIT GIRARD!" Damian put his hand to the now sore spot on his face and looked up at the fuming Hazel. "How many times are you gonna do that?"

"As many times as I have to to get you to get the message," Hazel sat back down, this time at the desk usually occupied by her inmate.

Damian rolled his eyes at her and mumbled, "bloody PMS."

"I heard that!" Hazel crossed her arms and flung her right leg over the left. "I want this done before dinner, or before I do insane, whichever comes first."

"You're already insane, deal with it," Damian smirked, looking over at Hazel, "but of you're so desperate to get away from me, then fine. Where do you suggest we begin, since you always have to know _everything_."

Hazel rolled her eyes and exhaled heavily. "Let's just make a list of ideas, hopefully we can come up with something that won't kill either of us."

"And where do you propose we do this?" Damian asked. They had been locked in the room without their books or personal possessions.

Hazel simply flipped the desk over, "viola."

"Quill?"

Hazel pulled a muggle pen out of her hair, causing her, ironically, hazel hair to fall over her face. "Any more excuses not to work?"

"How about 'I don't want to'?"

"Fine, then I say we have to write a three foot essay on inter-house friendships," Damian, who had leaned the chair to balance on its two back legs, nearly fell over, "each."

Damian sighed, rolled his eyes and shook his head before deciding to take a seat on the desk so that he would be only two feet away from Hazel. "Let's just get this over with Girard."

"My pleasure _Mendez_."

ONE HOUR LATER

"Haha, how about send us on an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii?" Damian suggested, which Hazel added to their list of ideas for how to get the two of them to prevent from fighting.

"Hey, I have no problems with that," Hazel chuckled. "I KNOW! How about we get to do a study abroad, but stay in our own house, with no adults, and everything gets paid for by the school!"

"Girard, you like school _way_ too much," Damian said, shaking his head.

Hazel playfully slapped his arm. "Well at least I'm not revolving my ideas on bikinis and snow bunnies."

"Hey, that was only the last three. I also suggested private dorms with our own common room, throw a party, you suggested truth or dare," Damian laughed at the girl's suggestion.

"Well it's not like I suggested that we date or something," Hazel joked.

"Why not?" Damian was joking, of course, but he wanted to ask.

"Oh come on, us, dating? Not only do we not know each other, but we hate each other. Not to mention the fact that we're not even attracted to each other." She flipped a chunk of hair over her shoulder, causing a few strands to fall over her eye.

Damian leaned forward and moved the hair out of her face. His face was serious, causing the smile on Hazel's face to turn into a gaze.

"I think you're beautiful." Damian stated simply. "Please smile again."

"Very interesting." Hermione looked over her shoulder and up at Draco. He was reading the list over her shoulder.

Beneath the list of ideas, in curvy letters, was written: 'This here declares the truce between Hazel Ursala Girard and Damian Alberto Mendez. Hence forth, the two shall be known as DAM HUGs, the best kind.' Beside the writing, in the margins between the edges of the desk and the list, was writing in two different handwriting styles, each signed with a different signature.

"What do you think happened to them?" Draco asked.

"Dumbledore said that they got married and now have five kids," Hermione said. She was amazed. The list contained at least twenty, thirty ideas, only half of them even remotely sane.

"This doesn't change anything between us, you _do_ know that, right Granger?" Draco said in a cold voice.

"Why would I ever think otherwise?"


	3. What Do You Want?

A/N WARNING: As excited as I was to finally have a story on where Hermione and Draco hate each other and something that actually seems in character, my Draco did something out of character a few days before I began this chapter and every time I tried to write they would just end up, well, I'm not going to make anything more obvious. Enjoy and don't hate me.

Chapter Three: What Do You Want?

The minutes dragged on and Hermione had grown tired of just staring into space. She stopped bothering to try to keep track of time, or even talk to Draco.

"What are you doing over there mudblood?"

Hermione's head shot up from where it was resting in her hand. She turned around to the blonde haired boy who had spent the past twenty minutes watching her stare at the desk, unbeknownst to her.

"What?"

"What-are-you-doing?" He asked her as though she was an idiot.

"Wh-oh, nothing." Hermione looked at him. He had a look of disdain on his face. Or was it boredom? What was he up to? The silence was killing her. It had to end. "Do you know what time it is?"

He glared at her with a look of confusion. He shook the look from his face and looked at his watch. His eyes flew open. "Dinner began fifteen minutes ago!"

Hermione was shocked. Dumbledore had left them in there longer than he had said. She stood up and rushed over to the door and tried to open it. "Still locked," she sighed as she turned around and walked reluctantly back to the chair she had been sitting in for, apparently, the past two and three-quarter hours.

"What the bloody hell was that old fart thinking?"

Hermione couldn't hold it in. She let out a large, loud snort, causing her hair to fall over her head.

Draco looked at the girl, dumbfounded. "What in the world is so funny?" He demanded.

Hermione sat up and straightened her face. She quickly collected herself and gave the blonde boy a look of disbelief. "Did you just call Professor Albus Dumbledore an old _fart_?"

Draco realized what he had said and shifted a bit uncomfortably in his seat. It was like watching a little boy denying eating the cookie he wasn't supposed to before dinner. He stuck out his chin slightly and said, "and if I did?"

"Well, then I must tell you that it was quite immature and I expected much more from you." She gave him a slight smirk, not even realizing how civil she was being towards him.

"Oh really, and-wait. Mudblood," Draco's voice was gentler than normal as he took a pause, "this is exactly what Dumbledork wants."

"For us to get along," Hermione finished slowly, realizing what was going on.

"You just stick to your side of the room and I'll stick to mine." Draco leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, closing his eyes when he felt someone standing beside him. "What do you want mudblood?"

Hermione knelt down and began opening the desk drawers. "I'm looking for food," she huffed. "If you haven't noticed we're missing dinner and I'm a bit hungry. Aha!" Hermione pulled out two bottles of butterbeer, a plate of turkey sandwiches and two large pieces of chocolate cake. "Looks like Dumbledore didn't exactly have too much faith in us," Hermione sighed.

"You expected us to be best of friends before dinner?" Draco let out a small huff of disbelief.

"Well we could at least try," Hermione threw up her arms in defeat. She grabbed one of the forks in the middle of the table and pulled Damian's chair to the desk.

"Mudblood?" Hermione looked up at Draco, who was just staring at her.

"Must you constantly call me that?" She straightened up in her chair.

Draco's face was serious. He just looked at her. How could she be so casual about this? "Mudblood, slow down and step back. We are not friends. We will never be friends, so don't try."

"I'm only pretending to be nice, well, as nice as possible, for Dumbledore." Hermione took one of the sandwiches from the plate. "The sooner we can fool the stupid spell he has over this place and leave each other's presence."

"Whatever." Draco bent over his cake and began to scrape off the frosting, eating it first.

Hermione watched him for a few seconds before turning to her sandwich. She slowly picked the crust off, strip by strip.

"What are you doing?"

"Wha-" Hermione looked up at Draco with half of a strip of crust hanging between her teeth and fingers. She ripped off the bit that was out of her mouth and swallowed what was. "What are you talking about?"

"Why are you mutilating your sandwich?" He sounded confused and slightly disturbed.

"Why are you skinning your cake alive?" Hermione countered.

Draco rolled his eyes and shoved his frosting covered fork into his mouth. "Mmm. Now that's good."

Hermione sighed as she turned back to her sandwich. She put the strip of crust in her mouth and smiled. "Mmm, now _that's_ good."

"Now I think that sounded like a challenge," Draco smirked.

"Wow, the ferret boy is asking to be beaten by the mudblood?" Hermione made a mock stunned look on her face. She put her hand on her chest and widened her eyes as she leant back in her chair.

"We're doing it again," Draco mumbled into his cake.

"Yeah," Hermione sighed. "But just if you didn't notice, unless you can breathe in chocolate you might want to lift your head."

Another fifteen minutes went by and neither teen spoke. Hermione was on her second sandwich and Draco had been picking at his cake.

"If you don't want it then you know you don't have to eat it." Draco's incessant picking had begun to get on her nerves.

Draco looked up. "Just stick to your food. My eating habits have nothing to do with you."

Hermione rolled her eyes once more and continued to peel the crust off of her sandwich. "Malfoy, why do you hate me?"

"Y'know, if we just come up with some stupid punishment we might be able to get out of here."

"That isn't what the spell is for though."

"How do you know?"

"It isn't what Dumbledore wants."

_CREAK_


	4. If The Punishment Fits The Crime

Chapter Four: If The Punishment Fits The Crime

Hermione whipped her head around and looked at the door. A bright light was coming from the other side. She craned her neck as she stood up to see what was causing the light. Was Voldemort attacking?

"The door is opening," a boy's voice said.

"Oh," a girl half sighed.

Hermione looked, puzzled, through the open crack between the door and its frame. It was like looking into the room she and Malfoy were locked in, only there was a blonde girl standing in the middle of the room with a dark haired boy. The boy looked Spanish, maybe Spanish heritage. He was several inches taller than the girl, who seemed to be barely five feet, three inches shorter than Hermione. Her hazel flowed and fell to her upper back, stick straight with a few strands falling in front of her face in angels perfectly complimenting her features.

The boy looked down at the girl. She didn't notice this as she grabbed her pen and put it back in her hair. "I guess it's time to go."

"Hazel," the girl turned around and looked at the boy who just stared back at her. Neither said anything.

Was this Hazel and Damian?

Neither teen smiled. They just looked at each other as though everything was being said already.

"Smile again?" Damian said, taking a step towards Hazel.

"Kiss me," she whispered.

"Granger?"

Hermione's eyes shot open. She looked up. Draco Malfoy was standing over her.

"Wh-what?" She looked around the room. "Where are we? What's going on?" She asked sleepily.

"Dumbledore came in before to check on us, but you had decided to take a nap at the most perfect time." He smirked as he looked down at her. "I was about to suggest that we attack him and make for the door, but since my Bonnie was unconscious I thought it might not be too smart."

Hermione chuckles as she sat up and stretched. "Wait, why are we still together?" she looked around the room frantically. "Does Dumbledore expect us to continue to try to get along?"

"Well…" Draco looked around the room innocently.

"What did you do Malfoy?" Hermione demanded.

"What did _I_ do? You're the one who bloody fell asleep!" Draco near-yelled. "Just be grateful I didn't draw on your face or anything."

"Yes, _that_ should make up for us still being here," Hermione said sarcastically at the blonde boy. "Because you were too busy resisting temptation to put ink on my face to fake nice to Dumbledore!"

"Oh grow up Gran-"

"_You_ grow up!" Hermione was becoming furious. "The last thing I remember is us actually coming close to getting along and you do something as stupid as this!"

"The last thing you-you fell asleep an hour after dinner!"

"What are you talking about?"

Draco rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. "We were eating dinner and we heard a creak, but it turned out to be a suit of armor coming in to check on us. You tried to fake nice, but I tried to get out. It caught me and locked us back in here. You yelled at me for a half hour, went to that bloody 'Hug' desk and stared into space until you fell asleep!"

"Well you were the one who tried to escape illegally!"

"ILLEGALLY?" Draco couldn't believe her. "We're at bloody school trying to get out of some messed up detention!"

"Well deal with it! It was your mistake!"

"Shut up! It's not like I want to be here!"

"And you think I want to?" Hermione yelled at him. He was so infuriating at times she wanted nothing more than to slap him again!

"Well it could be worse for you, mudblood!" Draco caught her wrist in mid-slap.

Hermione snarled at him, unable to hide her anger. She did _not_ want to have to spend the night in the classroom with the Ferret Boy himself.

"I despise you Malfoy," Hermione hissed at him, her wrist still in his hand.

"Well you're not so easy to love either Granger," Draco said, dropping her hand and walking away.

Hermione couldn't stop herself, and before she could change her mind she called out to him, "what do you mean _I'm_ not so easy to love?"

Draco stopped in his tracks a few feet away from the teacher's desk and looked up. "Just leave it, Granger."

Hermione walked over to Draco and looked up at him. "M-Draco," she began softly, "I don't want to hate you and I don't understand why you hate me, but until we work _something_ out we are never going to leave this room."

"Y'know, if this was some story or something this would be the part where I kissed you suddenly then the door opened," Draco smirked.

"This isn't a story," Hermione replied hoarsely.

"Good."

"Why you hate me so much?"

Draco leaned in until his nose was an inch from Hermione's and said simply, "Because I do."

Hermione stared at him, refusing to break their eye contact. Draco stared back at her, his gaze trying to break hers.

"Stick to your side of the room and come up with some way for us to get the hell out of here." With that, Draco broke his gaze and sat in the teacher's desk.

Hermione stood where she was, replaying what had just happened in her head. She turned around and put her hands on the desk, refusing to slam them. "This is just as much your fault as it is mine, even more so. _You_ come up with something." Before he could reply, she turned around and huffed back to her-Damian's desk.

The two sat there, not knowing what to do when Hermione remembered that Draco had done something before. "Malfoy?" Draco lifted his head and looked at her. "Why were you looking around the room acting all fake innocent before?"

"Dumbledore said that if we continued to be this stubborn until curfew we would automatically be moved to a shared common room for the night and then receive our punishment when we wake up."

"Are you kidding me?" Hermione didn't believe a word coming out of his mouth.

"Yeah," Draco smirked as he slouched back in the chair. "You actually only fell asleep for five minutes. Dumbledore never came by."

"Then what was with the fake innocent?" Hermione yelled.

"Why do you have to blow your fucking head off at me every two minutes?"

"Why do you have to be such a bloody arse?"

"Why are you so damn infuriating?"

"Why do _I_ have to be so infuriating?" Hermione stalked angrily over to the desk and slammed her hands down, looking Draco straight in the eye.

Draco looked casually at her, crossing his arms and legs. "Yes. You."

"I _loathe_ you Draco Malfoy," Hermione hissed.

"Ditto."

"ARG!" Hermione punched the desk, not caring how much it hurt her fist and shoved her finger in his face. "You are the most-"

"The most what?" Draco smirked. "You've already told me everything you think of me, so nothing is new."

Hermione was about to admit it to herself, but then she remembered something that she had kept up her sleeve for a rainy day. She put on a smirk to challenge his and relaxed her stance. "You're right." She looked at his slightly surprised expression and walked around the desk until he had to turn the chair to the right to be facing her. "I have nothing new. I mean, you've already heard ferret, hypochondriac, and have even been mocked for running not only to Fang when we were in the Forbidden Forest, but also running and abandoning your classmate in sheer terror when he was confronted by Lord Voldemort. Oh wait," she put her finger to her chin, "no one knows about that little act of cowardice."

Draco shrunk a little in his chair and looked up at her. It was true, no one knew he had done that, not that anyone who mattered would care.

"I also remember that you were practically begging for lines so that you wouldn't have to go into the forest." Hermione had him, or so she thought. Sure, it was funny to remember, but could she use it to her advantage?

"I was eleven and it was midnight and-"

"You were scared out of your wits by your father's own master." _Now_ Hermione had him. "What are you gonna do when you have to face him to get instructions?"

"What the bloody hell are you talking about Granger?" Draco wasn't too sure he even wanted to be a Death Eater. Sure he wanted to, but did he want to waste his time and energy fighting when there was even a small chance he could die or even lose the battle along with his money? (A/N I would just like to say that after reading the sixth book I am POSITIVE that something like what my bestest friend wrote in her story "Revenge Isn't Everything" by TempusToki will happen in the seventh book. Draco Malfoy is not evil and was just scared in HBP and we should all give him a second chance.)

Hermione realized that she had gone too far and quickly changed the topic, sort of. "Well if you don't want you Slytherin buddies to hear about it I suggest that we come up with something."

That was when Draco got it. The desk! Of course! He leapt up and flipped the desktop over.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked from where she had been standing before.

"Damian and Hazel were let out because they came up with this list-"

"They kissed and ended up getting married."

"Will you just let me finish Granger?" Hermione rolled her eyes. "Let's pick one thing on the list, agree to do it no-matter what it is and Dumbledore _has_ to let us out."

Hermione couldn't believe it. This was actually a good idea. She walked over and looked at the list.

"Pick your favorite ones and we can narrow it down."

Hermione took the pen in her hair and dragged the closest desk over and began to eliminate options.

When she finished fifteen minutes later, her list consisted of six ideas, only two which she would actually do; go on a study abroad together, walk a mile in each other's shoes, go on a trip together for a class project, play a controlled game of 'truth or dare', serve a normal detention for a professor together, and to be sent somewhere together with their memories of each other erased.

"The whole point of 'truth or dare' is to let go of inhibition." Hermione looked up at Draco, who was reading over her shoulder.

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked at his list. It was a typical one with a majority of the ideas she assumed were Damian's. "First of all, these three go."

"So does this one."

The two crossed out idea after idea, adding then taking away a few until they were left with only one. Draco didn't have a pen, so he had used his fork to scratch the letters into another desk's wood.

"So this is it."

"We agree that we agree on this and no backing out or anything causing us to be stuck back here?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Well here we go."

A/N VOTE VOTE VOTE ON WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE THESE TWO DO! I WANT FIFTEEN VOTES AT LEAST!


	5. No Backing Out

Chapter Five: No Backing Out

Hermione and Draco turned to look at the door as it slowly creaked open. In the doorway stood Albus Dumbledore with his fingertips together.

"Are you ready?" He asked them solemnly. They shook their heads. "Then let's go."

Hermione and Draco walked out of the room, led by Dumbledore, and down the corridor. Before they reached the corridor leading to the deserted Charms corridor, Dumbledore turned around and looked at the two teenagers.

Truth be told, he was expecting at least a bloody nose, or even more time to be spent in the room. Damian and Hazel spent three days there until they finally even began talking to each other somewhat civilly. By the end of the day they had spent at least five hours talking and ended up forgetting anything about their punishment.

"I want you both to know that I am proud of you for agreeing on this," he began. "This is the first sign of friendship and maturity." The two looked at each other and then back at the headmaster. "I hope that you are sure about this and will give you one week to back out, but only if I see improvement in your behavior towards one another-"

"_What_?"

"Yes, Mister Malfoy?"

"You mean to tell us that even though we spent nearly an entire day together, spoke to each other, and had to agree on a _punishment_ and you aren't even making us do it?" Draco asked, trying not to get too upset.

"Yes. Like I said, this is the first sign of maturity and growth." A twinkle came to the old man's eye. "Now you have one more week until your punishment begins, and I must say that I am proud of the one you chose, and quite amused."

Hermione, who had been quiet the whole time, began to wonder if Dumbledore even expected them to pick something so civil. She would probably not have chosen it because of friends and D-Malfoy would never have chosen it for image. What was Dumbledore up to?

"Now off to bed for the two of you. And please do not speak of this to your classmates. I will see you on Friday, bright and early." Dumbledore made to turn around, but Hermione stopped him.

"Wait, sir. Today is Tuesday," she told him. "You said we had a week to decide on this."

"Yes, well, something tells me that you will not be backing out and I think it would be better to do this on a Friday. Does that not sound nice?" He smiled and walked away before anything more could be said.

Hermione stood where she was and thought about what she had just gotten herself into.

"Well it looks like I'll be seeing you on Friday, Granger," Draco grunted.

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. "We have class first period tomorrow Malfoy."

Without saying anything more the two walked away, regretting the past several hours.

"Hermione, where have you been?" Harry asked, jumping up from the armchair and racing to his friend.

"Oh, um, I was just speaking with Dumbledore," she explained in a daze, remembering she wasn't supposed to tell anyone.

"Really? Because he was at dinner tonight the entire time," Ron said, finally reaching her.

"Uh, well he thought that it would be best if Malfoy and I cooled off for a bit before deciding what to do." She looked around the empty room. It must have been late for it to be this empty. "What time is it?"

"Eleven thirty, but everyone's gone upstairs to place bets on what was going to happen to you and Malfoy," Ron said with a laugh.

"Really?"

"Unfortunately. So what happened?" Harry asked.

"Well, I'm not supposed to tell you, but I really must be getting to bed. Good night." Hermione walked up the staircase to her dormitory, still in a daze and went straight to sleep.

"Malfoy, where were you?" Blaise Zabini asked Draco as he walked through the portrait hole.

"Dumbledore and Granger," he replied somewhat bitterly.

"Shit, man, what happened?"

"Same old. 'Not supposed to tell you' crap. What time is it?" The Slytherin common room wasn't usually this crowded until late at night.

"Quarter to twelve," Blaise told him. "You've been missing for like _nine hours_."

Draco rolled his eyes. Of course he was going to have wasted a whole day in that room. "Whatever. Night."

Blaise watched as his friend made his way up the stairs to their dormitory in a trance.

Hermione woke up the next morning early. She took a long, hot shower as memories of the previous day swept through her. It was a good thing that she had already finished today's homework. She thought to herself about what she had done as she accidentally poured an entire bottle of conditioner into her hair.

"Shit," she swore under her breath as she tried to smooth it out of her hair, only making it go deeper into the frizz and bush. She ran a hand through a chunk of her hair and felt as it went all the way through, only hitting a few snags on the way that only separated as she pushed a bit harder. That hadn't happened since she was a little girl and her mother would spend an hour a night combing through it after a bath.

When Hermione got out of the shower she looked at her hair in the mirror. She had never noticed how long it was as she turned to the side and saw that it reached quite low on her back. It was still bushy, but much straighter, with less knots. It looked like someone kinked it after it had been straightened, and she liked it. She pulled two strands from the front back and put them in a rubber band to keep them out of her face.

By now girls were starting to come into the bathroom so Hermione made sure that her robe was tied, brushed and flossed her teeth, and went back to her dormitory to get dressed.

Draco woke up ten minutes late, having forgotten to set his alarm, and threw on his clothes, not having enough time to gel his hair. He took a quick look in the mirror and noticed that he liked the way his hair fell over his eyes. It made him look more mysterious. Remembering that he only had fifteen minutes to get to breakfast and then his first class he raced out of the dormitory, not even remembering the previous day.

When Draco Malfoy walked through the doors to the Great Hall, all eyes were on him. It was no secret that the two had gone missing the previous day for nine hours and Hermione wasn't talking.

Not noticing the attention, Draco took a seat between Crabbe and Goyle and across from Blaise and Pansy. He grabbed a muffin and bit into it, only having five minutes to eat before he had to rush to charms class.

"Um, Draco," Draco looked up at Pansy. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," he replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you were late this morning and you seemed really out of it last night," Blaise explained.

"I'm fine," he assured them, taking another bite of his muffin. "Don't worry."

Hermione saw Draco come into the hall as she finished her breakfast. He seemed a little off as he raced to eat a muffin. She hoped to herself that they were doing the right thing as she stood up and made her way to Charms.

The next two days went by without a single incident. Neither Draco nor Hermione could completely focus as their classes seemed to speed by. Before they knew it, it was Friday and their punishment was beginning in one hour. They were told to go to first period, then second period getting ready.

"You ready for this?" Hermione asked, breaking the silence.

"Not like there's any way out now," Draco replied.

The gargoyle jumped to its side to reveal Dumbledore. They both gulped as they thought of what was to come.


	6. Awkward Arrangement

Chapter Six: Awkward Arrangement

You two will have until the spell wears off, which will not happen for a certain amount of time. What happens during and after is completely your choice. The school will be told nothing unless questions are asked, and even then will not know what is going on." Hermione and Draco watched Dumbledore intently. He was telling them what was going to be happening for the next period of time. "I expect both of you to be well behaved and do this on your own. Your parents will be informed so they will not be distraught that you are not writing to them. Here is your information and I hope to see you soon."

Hermione blinked a few times and looked at her surroundings.

She was standing on the sidewalk of a deserted street. There were several houses to each of her sides leading down the block. In front of her was a simple, white house. In the driveway was a blue car, but knowing nothing about cars, all she could be impressed about was that it was a convertable. She opened the small picket fence gate (thingy) and walked up the walkway to the front door, which was unlocked.

Her plane ride had been quite relaxing, and she fell asleep a few minutes after takeoff.

She could hear loud rock music coming from one of the rooms upstairs. Carefully putting her bags down, she walked up the stairs and followed the sound, leading to the open door to the left of the stairs and down the hall.

"Hello?" She asked, looking inside. A blonde boy turned around from where he was hanging up a poster of a music group. "Sorry, I was just wondering where the music was coming from."

Hermione turned to walk away and find her room. There was no way that the school would have put her with a boy roommate.'

"Oh, hey, sorry about that," the boy said, lowering the music and following her out of the room.

"It's okay," she told him.

"Here, let me help you with those," he insisted, taking the larger of Hermione's two bags out of her hand.

"Thanks."

"I'm Draco, by the way," he held out his hand, which Hermione took.

"Hermione."

"Not to sound ungrateful, or rude," Draco began, walking up the stairs, "but I wasn't quite expecting a girl roommate."

"I was thinking that before as well," she told him.

"I reckon we must be the only students not from here then, huh?" he huffed, finally reaching the landing.

"I suppose," Hermione replied, walking past him into the large purple room a few feet to the right of the stairs. "Where are you from?"

Draco paused, the bag still in his hand. "I-I don't quite remember. What about you?"

"Well, I'm from," Hermione, too, paused. "To be quite honest I don't remember either." She sat down on the queen-sized bed. "It must be the jet lag," she assured both him and herself.

"Came by train," Draco told her.

"Oh."

"Well, er, nice room."

Hermione looked around. The walls were lavender, save the slightly slanted one above the head of her bed, which was white with a large purple flower painted on it. The furniture was a worn white with a desk and chair, armoire and trunk along with her bed. The sheets and pillows were purples and white and the comforter was white with small, purple flowers. There was a long window beside a mirror, matching the rest of her furniture, with sheer, white curtains and purple ones to draw if she didn't want anyone to see into her room. The carpeting was lavender with a white rug in the middle in the design of the same flower on her wall.

"Thank you," Hermione said. "I liked yours, or, er, what I saw."

Draco's room had dark blue carpet with even darker blue walls, covered with posters that he had obviously brought with him, but that was all she saw.

"Thanks."

"So, um, I really must be getting my school supplies and organized," Hermione said, not knowing what else there was to say. "You're welcome to come if I go out."

"Um, thanks, but I just brought stuff from home," Draco said, trying not to be rude.

This was going to be an awkward arrangement.


	7. Spaghetti and Footballs

Chapter Seven: Spaghetti and Footballs

Hermione and Draco were sitting quietly in the kitchen eating breakfast. It was their first official day as roommates. They had spent a majority of the previous day setting up their rooms. Draco listened to his music while hanging up posters, ending up falling asleep early in the evening. Hermione, on the other hand, had her own music playing, but ended up unpacking. By the time she returned from buying her school supplies Draco was fast asleep on his bed with his iPod still playing in his ears. She made herself a light snack and fell asleep into a deep sleep in the middle of a nap.

"I was planning on checking out the area today," Hermione said, finally breaking the silence, "would you care to come?"

Draco looked up at the girl in front of him. He was actually trying to think of some way to bond with the girl he was to share the house with for the next several months "Sure." He swallowed his cereal. "What did you have in mind?"

Hermione thought for a minute. "Well we're coming a month into the school year. Maybe we can go check out the school's campus, or maybe the town right over."

"I heard that there's a great music and book store in town," he suggested.

"Cool." Hermione smiled across the island. Maybe the living arrangement wouldn't be so bad. She stood up and put her bowl in the sink. "I'll go get dressed and we can head out whenever you're ready." She went up the stairs to her room.

An hour later Hermione was behind the wheel of a car the school provided for the two teens. They were on their way to check out the area before visiting the school campus.

The car ride was mostly quiet, but by the time Draco asked Hermione what her favorite book was. They got into a discussion about books, which led to music, which Hermione was about to lead to movies when they pulled into the parking lot of the high school. The ice was broken for the most part and as Hermione hugged a book to her chest in an attempt to block the wind.

Draco placed his sweatshirt over her shoulders, revealing his built arms coming out of his blue T-shirt that now hugged his chiseled body. Hermione tried not to stare and looked at the grass ahead of her.

"LOOK OUT!"

A football came flying at Hermione's head but at the last minute was caught by Draco with reflexes like Hermione had never seen before. She looked up at him and watched as he threw it across the football field with ease.

A few whispers were exchanged as Draco continued casually along with an awed Hermione.

"Whe-"

"Blondie!" Hermione looked up with Draco at the tall quarterback running towards them. Draco crossed his arms and watched with interest. "Where'd you learn to throw like that?"

"What do you mean?" Draco asked.

"Like you just did. I've never seen anything like that." The boy took off his helmet and looked at the two teens. He seemed to be around their age with tanned skin and sun-kissed sandy hair. "Are you new around here?"

"We're the ne-"

"We're new here," Draco told him. "Staying at the place on Rhodes St."

"Brilliant! So you're going to attend school here then?"

Draco and the boy began to get wrapped in a conversation, leaving Hermione feeling off to the side.

Two hours later the two were back at their place, exhausted by the short day's events. They had to choose their classes, extra curricular activities, and anything else school related. Hermione flopped onto the couch and let out a relaxed sigh. Draco, on the other hand, went upstairs and grabbed a few pounds.

"I have to go out, I'll be back soon," he told Hermione.

"Okay," she stood up and turned to head upstairs. "I think I'm going to start catching up on the work we've missed."

As soon as the door closed, Hermione raced into the bathroom with her c.d. player and a c.d. she snuck at the bottom of her bag. It was a mix of some of her favorite songs, but were completely different from her usual taste. She filled the bathtub with bubbly water and relaxed to the loud music that belonged only in a mosh pit. She fell asleep halfway into the third song and on the last page of the thirteenth chapter.

"HERMIONE! ARE YOU HOME?"

Draco looked around the lower floor of the house, the two bedrooms and was about to knock on the bathroom door when he heard her music blasting from the bathroom. He was surprised and had originally thought that the loud music was coming from his computer.

Hermione heard his yelling and awoke with a start. She turned off the music, wrapped a towel around her body and opened the bathroom door.

"Sorry, I was in the bathtub," she told Draco.

"Oh," it was then that Draco noticed that the bottoms of her hair sticking out of her bun were wet and that she was in nothing but a towel. "Sorry. I just wanted to let you know that I was home."

"Okay." Hermione didn't know what to say. Things were obviously going to take while to feel normal. Before they went to the school it felt like they were like real friends; it was casual and very light hearted, while still feeling comfortable. Why did he seem off after they left the football field? "Well I'll be done in a minute. I think I'm just going to take a quick shower if you would like to do something for dinner."

Draco's face lit up a bit. "Ace. I'll just go put my stuff in my room. What are you in the mood for?"

An hour later Hermione was driving herself and Draco to the supermarket. It turned out that the school didn't leave them much food, but had a credit card for expenses like food. They didn't know what they were going to have for dinner, but decided that since they had to go to the supermarket anyway, they might as wells see if they could come up with something.

"I'll go get us a cart," Draco said as Hermione looked for a spot. They car ride was a little more quiet than the one on the way to the school, but they still spoke about home (or at least what they thought they remembered thanks to Dumbledore) and what hey liked to do during the summer.

Hermione nodded and let Draco out before driving off to the other end of the parking lot to claim one of the few remaining spots. The parking lot wasn't too big though, so it was only a short walk before she found Draco with a metal cart. He had a big, goofy grin on hid face making Hermione a bit curious.

"Your chariot, m'lady," Draco said with a bow before standing up to laugh at her expression.

Hermione smirked. "There is no way I am getting into that th_iiing_." Draco had lifted her up and placed her in the back.

"Hold on," he said before spinning the cart around quickly.

Hermione hand's gripped the sides, but she soon began to laugh and throw her hands in the air…until she heard her stomach growl.

"Haha, Draco, let me out," she told him smiling. "I'm _starving_."

Draco, too, heard his stomach growl at him and stopped. "Fine, but are you absolutely sure you want to be let out?"

Hermione could tell that he wasn't going to be very helpful and put her hands on either side of the cart and tried to slide out, but accidentally moved the cart and began to lose all balance. In the blink of an eye she found herself in Draco's arms looking up at him and the cart lying on the ground a few feet away in the perking lot where it was run into by a car that didn't stop. Hermione's eyes hadn't left Draco, but she knew what had happened.

Draco's eyes hadn't left Hermione until the sound of rubber crashing into metal snapped him out of whatever he was in. "Er-" he began to stand up with Hermione still in his arms, "shall we just take a basket?"

"Oh, um, well I think that if we don't fool around in one again, we'll be safe with another cart." Hermione knew that had Draco not caught her, she would have still fallen out of the cart and not into the street, but she still felt like he saved her life. She tried to smile at him, but his face was looking confused and he was already walking to the carts, so she let it fade from her lips and walked with him into the store.

The trip was quiet and uneventful. The each took a half of the store and met in the cereal aisle to go to pay together. In the car, Draco found that the silence was killing him and turned on the radio. He soon found a station playing one of his favorite songs and within seconds he heard Hermione lightly humming the tune.

Draco looked over at Hermione and began to sing the lyrics. Hermione raised the volume and soon they were dancing around and singing the lyrics, even drumming on the steering wheel and front of the car (A/N what's that called again? I completely forgot). When they got to the house they were carrying two bags each, had no hands, and were still singing and dancing to whatever song they could think of.

"You take the pantry and I'll take the refrigerator." Draco put his and Hermione's bags on the counter. He began to unpack the bags and began a game to see if he could go from the refrigerator to the groceries and back before the door closed. Hermione, on the other hand, was trying to take as much in her arms as she could and organized everything into the cupboards to the tune of a song the was humming under her breath.

"What song is that?" Draco asked, giving up on trying to place the song. Hermione blushed and looked away before mumbling something Draco could have sworn was Blink-182's "First Date." "Um, excuse me Miss," he walked over to her with a smile and glimmer in his eye, "did you just tell me that you were singing Blink-182?"

Hermione looked slyly, though still blushing, at Draco. "I'm allowed to listen to American music."

Draco let out a "hm" of happy disbelief. "British rock I can maybe see on you with, but American punk?"

"Yes, the good girl with the pretty books and quiet demeanor isn't allowed to listen to anything but Natasha Bedingfield," Hermione said sarcastically.

Draco laughed at the petite girl. She could be quite cute when sarcastic, and he found himself feeling something like when he had caught her before. "So," he searched for words. "'First Date,' huh?" He walked over to her until he was almost pressed against her back.

Hermione looked up at him. His hair was falling loosely over his eyes and his white teeth were smiling down at her. "Yeah," she whispered. "First Date. Um, Draco."

"Yes?"

"We're friends."

Draco stood up straight and took a step back. "Yes, I think that's good."

Hermione turned around and looked at him. "We live together."

"So of course we would have to be friends."

"Good." She looked around the room. "So, er, let's finish unpacking."

Thirty minutes of awkward organizing they had made the kitchen theirs.

"What are we going to do for diner?" Draco finally asked. The whole time they were unpacking and moving things around he had been wondering what would have happened had Hermione not brought up any sort of friendship.

"Um, how about pasta?" Hermione said, not looking up at Draco. She, too, had been wondering what would have happened had she not killed the mood. She reached up into the cupboard and grabbed the box of spaghetti. "There should also be some sauce somewhere in here."

"That jarred stuff has nothing on my family recipe for tomato sauce." Draco reached up to stop Hermione from taking out that jar, but took his hand away when their hands touched.

Hermione blushed walked around him to the pots. "What do you need?"

The two moved around each other awkwardly and robotically, until they were squeezing tomatoes and one exploded onto the two of them from Hermione's hand turning into a food fight destroying the kitchen.

They ended up spending the night after the food fight cleaning up, ordering pizza (which was delivered by a twenty-something man who tried to hit on Hermione and get her to check out his car until Draco threatened to call the police), and re-starting their friendship.

A/N Sorry the update took so long, but I will update all of my stories this week and then probably take a break until September unless enough people tell me that they will continue to read during the summer. Please review! Also, I didn't mean to get Hermione and Draco going so quickly, but you shall soon see that master plan unfold. Mwahahaha


	8. Writing

Okay, so I have the same excuse as with my other story and two amazing ideas for the next chapter for this, one already written out, but I'm not 100 percent which one I want to do. Instead of doing a blind vote like I love, I'll let you all decide. Should personality or old social situations take control? Sorry. That's the most that I can tell you without giving away the next half of the story. Please tell me soon. I'll update as soon as I get fifteen review votes. Sorry again for not updating so soon, but now I can also blame it on the lack of internet in my house which makes me want to be sad.

REVIEW


	9. The New Trio

_**SO HERE'S THE IRONIC THING, IN MY LAST VOTE, YOU ALL WANTED TO SEE PERSONALITY HAVE MORE OF A HOLD, BUT IN THIS ONE YOU ALL VOTED FOR SOCIAL SITUATIONS. DON'T WORRY, LIKE I SAID, I'M, GOING TO KEEP ALL CHARACTERS AND COMBINE SOME IDEAS, BUT HERE'S YOUR WINNER!!**_

Chapter Eight: The New Trio

It was their first day of school and Hermione was already a wreck. She woke up an hour and a half early to take a shower, do her hair, get dressed and make sure that everything was ready. Her iPod was charged next to her cell phone and her wallet had her ID and paper money.

Her shower ended up taking more time than she expected and she was racing around the house with a piece of toast in her mouth as she looked for her hairbrush and was stuck with her hair in a towel until she could find it when Draco came shuffling out of his room rubbing his eyes open. He began to laugh at the sight of Hermione running around with crumbs all over her white blouse and a towel over her head.

"'ave oo sheen my 'air-rush?" Hermione asked.

Draco looked across the hall, strolled into Hermione's room and walked out with her hairbrush in his hand and a smirk on his face.

Hermione's eyes flew open. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she squealed, finally finishing her toast. She raced up the stairs, threw her arms around Draco, then grabbed the brush and was in her room in the blink of an eye.

They were finally ready to go with fifteen minutes to spare. Hermione, after spending all night and three outfit changes that morning, had decided on a pair of jeans with a black long-sleeved shirt and a red vest with her hair down. Draco threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. They grabbed their bags, jumped into the car and were off.

"I think I'm going to stay after school, Hermione," Draco said as they began to drive.

"Sure," Hermione replied. "I think I'm going to go to the library after school to catch up on some of the work we've missed."

Draco wanted to tell Hermione why he was going to stay late, but he wasn't sure how. It wasn't a big deal, but he didn't want her to think that he was moving on without her.

"Does what you're going to be doing have anything to do with what that guy was talking to you about the other day?" Hermione asked.

Looks like she already knew. "Yes," he said. "He wants me to meet the coach."

"That sounds wicked," Hermione said. Truth be told she was nervous and shy, but she and Draco were friends so if he made some then he would probably introduce her to them.

They drove into the school's parking lot and headed into the building to the office.

"Oh no," Hermione said upon receiving her schedule. "We only have two classes together."

Draco looked at her schedule. "Well, we seem to have two frees at the same time. So that's period's one, six, seven and ten. Not too bad."

Hermione let out a silent sigh. "Yes, and two of them are lunch."

They bell let out a loud ring and Hermione and Draco ran to their first period, AP English.

There were two seats in the class, but the round teacher, Mr. Cleinman, saw them in the doorway and told them to stand in front of the class.

"Students, this is Draco Malloy and Hermione Graner," he introduced them. "They are new in this school and in this class and I would like you to take care of them as though they've been here since the beginning."

Hermione let out a nervous smile, but Draco was trying to think of why an opening speech about friendship felt so familiar. He shook it off, though, when Mr. Cleinman told them to find a seat. Hermione looked around the room nervously, trying not to let it be obvious. The only empty seats were either between two boys who looked like they were best friends and two that looked like they were jocks. One of the boys, she recognized, she had seen the other day on the football field. They waved Draco over, who put a supportive hand on Hermione's back and headed off to sit with them.

Went over and sat between the boys, who had obviously been separated. One of them had wild blonde hair and glasses. The other had red-brown hair and piercing blue eyes. They were laughing about something when Hermione came over and sat between them.

'This feels familiar,' Hermione though, but shook it off as she took out her red notebook.

Mr. Cleinman opened the class by introducing a project that day since everyone was there…for once. The boys beside Hermione snickered at that.

"Since you're all already in groups of three," he said as he put a booklet on each table, "those will be your groups. You'll be given an author from any country. I want you to research the writer, works, period of time the book was written in, the list goes on, as you can see in this booklet I have given out. Page three covers the mandatory information and other requirements. Be creative. Pages six through nine have pictures of examples, projects dome by other students. You are all seniors, I expect a good job done. Today I will let you have twenty minutes to discuss and plan with your group mates. Your assignment is in your booklet."

Hermione opened her booklet to see their assignment. She was about to ask the boys what they wanted to do, but they both leaned in so that they were all facing each other. The blonde boy put his arm on Hermione's chair to maintain balance.

"Hey," he said. "I'm Tom and this is Josh. Where are you and Draco from?"

"Well, I'm from , but I'm not sure where Draco's from," Hermione replied. "We only just met this weekend."

"Only know him a few days and yet you're already living with him?" Josh asked, "How can I sign up for that?" he joked.

Hermione didn't know what to say. "Well at least it's better than living alone," she tried to joke.

"I assume a party will be thrown soon," Josh half-suggested.

Hermione shrugged. She hadn't even thought of throwing a party. "Maybe I should make some friends before I invite them over to destroy the school's house," she said with a laugh, soon joined by a chuckle from Tom.

"Laughing doesn't sound like working boys," Mr. Cleinman said with a smile. "Miss Graner, how are you faring so far? We doing it for you?"

"Well," Hermione said, thinking, "it's certainly different from my old school." She thought back to...Mr…B. He was so boring people would sleep in his class.

"Well be careful with these two," he said with a smile. "Nothing but trouble wherever they go."

Hermione giggled. She wanted to say that she knew what that was like, but it was more like an impulse she didn't understand. "Don't worry sir," she said, "I'll keep an eye out."

Mr. Cleinman winked and walked over to Draco, who was talking with the two boys he was sitting with. They seemed to be getting along great.

Mr. Cleinman let the groups spend the whole period working on their projects, especially after he ended up having to settle a fight in the hallway.

"Pleasure meeting you Hermione," Tom said. "Must do it again, hopefully to help us pass this class." He picked up Hermione's books and asked, "what do you have next?"

"Psychology," she replied.

"I took that last year," Josh said. "Bloody brutal."

"I'm sure it couldn't have been _that_ bad," Hermione said.

"I managed to scrape a B," Josh shrugged. "You just have to know how to work Mrs. Dorem."

"Oh bugger, we have Mr. Snare," Tom said to Josh. He turned to Hermione, "Physics. Here's my phone number. Call about the project." He and Josh turned and ran down the hall.

Hermione looked down at her book where Tom had scribbled his phone number. She looked up then realized that if they were running late to physics then she was running very late to psychology. She sped across the building where the headmaster showed her where most of the science classes were.

"Running a little late?" Draco's voice came from beside her. Hermione nodded. "It's your first day, they'll let it slide if you're a few minutes late." Hermione slowed down and Draco stopped jogging. "How was your first period?"

"Well, Tom gave me his number so that we could work on the project, but we didn't get much work done in class," to told him. "How about you?"

"Curt and Jim asked us to have lunch with them and their friends," he said. "Interested?"

Hermione thought about it, but already knew that she was going to say yes. "Why not. It should be fun. You three seemed to be getting along very nice back there. And here's my class. I'll see you later for lunch."

Draco watched as Hermione went into the classroom and took an empty seat in the first row beside a small girl with glasses. He turned around and continued on to find room 302.

"Hello class," a small, brunette woman said, entering the room. She looked at Hermione. "Miss Graner?" Hermione nodded. "Class, this is Hermione Graner. She is new to the school. Let's begin class."

It turned out that Josh wasn't kidding when he said that the class was brutally hard. Hermione had a quiz and two essays to make up and they were due that Thursday.

"Miss Graner," Mrs. Doram said at the end of the class as everyone began to leave, "I understand that you are in a new school and are not living with your parents for the remainder of the school year, but I would like to tell you that I do not take grades or slackers lightly. If you need any help I can arrange for a student to help you. Here are the notes from the past four weeks and you may take the quiz on Friday."

Hermione nodded, a little overwhelmed, and walked down the corridors to AP World History.

During her free period, the girl from Hermione's psychology class she'd had two periods ago walked up and sat beside her. Hermione looked at the girl. Her hair was brown and in a tight ponytail. Her glasses had a purple rim that matched her purple cardigan she wore over a light blue dress.

"You're Hermione, right?" the girl asked. "I'm Amanda. We had psychology together second class."

Hermione smiled and nodded, remembering sitting next to the girl.

"I just wanted to tell you that if you need any help at all, you can just come to me. I'm usually here or in one of my clubs after school."

Hermione and Amanda ended up talking for the rest of the period until they both had to get to the language department, but different classes. Upon entering the room, Hermione saw that the tables were set in a circle. She sat in an empty one next to another empty one filled by Josh. He asked her about her morning so far before explaining that the headmaster liked to keep him and Tom in separate classes as often as possible, to which Hermione laughed at.

"So what are you doing for lunch?" Josh asked.

"Well, Jim and Curt invited Draco and myself to have lunch with them," Hermione said, wishing now that they hadn't. "I would invite you and Tom to join us, but I've never met them so it might be a bit rude."

Josh nodded. Hermione took the time to realize what he looked like. His messy blonde hair was brighter than Draco's and stuck out at all ends. He had thin-rimmed glasses and a lean physique from what she could tell and was about six feet tall, maybe a few inches more. She remembered Tom's tall frame, also lean. He was probably somewhere around six and a half feet tall with a mane of red-brown hair and blue eyes that felt like neon lights.

The two walked to the cafeteria together, where Hermione told Draco she would meet him, and looked around. Draco came running up to them and told Hermione, without even looking at Josh, "the coach said that he wants to see me now so I don't waste practice time. Jim and Curt said that they wanted to come and watch, but the other guys said that you could still go out with them if you didn't want to stay here."

"Oh, well…"

"That's brilliant," Josh said. "Now you can have lunch with me and Tom. There's a great place a few blocks from here. Here he comes now."

"Oh, where are my manners," Hermione said. "Tom, Josh, this is Draco, my roommate. Draco, these are my partners for the English project."

Draco held out his hand to the two boys. "Pleasure."

Josh and Tom nodded politely at him. "Wait," Tom said, '"you're that bloke who caught Coop's throw the other day, right?"

Draco stood proudly. "Yeah. They want me to join the team. I'm actually supposed to be getting changed so I can show the coach what I have to offer."

"Well good luck then."

Draco thanked Tom and turned back to Hermione. "I'll try to meet you next period, where do you think you'll be?"

"Probably in the library," Hermione said, "unless you want me to go down to the field and meet you."

"Maloy, come on," Coop said, running up and bringing Draco out the doors across the room.

Lunch went by fast. Hermione, Josh and Tom went to a place down the block and ate under the bleachers behind the school. Josh and Tom asked Hermione about herself, her old school, and like that. At one point, the watched Draco make a great pass to a boy Josh pointed out as Coop's right-hand man, Tim. Hermione still couldn't believe that the school had an American Football team.

When the bell rang, Tom and Josh went off to their classes and Hermione decided to take advantage of the wonderful weather and went up on the bleachers and began her work. She scribbled down that the boys asked her to see a movie with them that weekend.

Draco saw Hermione in the bleachers and waved at her, but she didn't notice.

"Okay Maloy," the coach said. "If you're done waving at your girlfriend then let me tell you welcome to the team. I'll see you after school."

Draco thanked him and headed up to Hermione. "Guess who made the team." Hermione jumped up to give him a congratulatory hug, but he stopped her. "Wait until I take a quick shower to do that," he joked. Hermione laughed with him.

"Please make it soon," she told him. "You really smell."

"That's it." Draco began to chase Hermione around the bleachers, trying to give her a big bear-hug.

"Hey Maloy," they heard, giving Hermione a chance to escape from the corner Draco had trapped her in. "I heard you made the team. Congratulations"

"Thanks," Draco said, walking down the bleachers to where Coop was standing next to Hermione, who was putting her books together. "Coop, this is Hermione. Hermione, you remember Coop, right?"

Coop ended up going to the locker room with Draco where they got changed and ready for their next class together, leaving Hermione waiting for them in the library. At the end of tenth period, Advanced Physics, Hermione went to the library while Draco went to practice.

An hour later, Hermione had finished her two essays for psychology and did all of her homework. She dropped her books off in her locker and wandered to a window where she saw the football team practicing drills. She decided to go outside and watch the practice, but hear a few people in a nearby classroom. She peeked through the doorway and saw Amanda with a group of students.

Amanda heard the door creak open a bit and saw Hermione, who she welcomed in with a large smile. "Hello Hermione. Are you interested in joining the math team?"

"The math team?" Hermione asked. She looked around at the students in the room. They all had their calculators out and a pencil in their hands.

"It's more like an academics team," a short boy explained. "We just specialize in math."

"Sit," Amanda told Hermione. "Try a few problems with us."

Hermione agreed and pretty soon she was having a lot of fun and was getting a lot of answers right.

"What math class are you in?" Kevin, the small boy and a junior, asked.

"Well, I take Advanced Physics, but I think it switched off with calculus," Hermione said with a blush.

"Hermione," a tall, skinny blonde girl, Ginette, began, "you _have_ to join the team. We need you."

"How many times a week do you meet?"

"Only two or three times a week after school and we have competitions," Amanda told her. "And we're never here later than the football team, if that's what you're worried about. Plus most of us are in other clubs, so we're all almost always here if you ever want to work a little overtime."

Hermione thought about it. If she joined the team then she wouldn't always be waiting for Draco after school, plus she'd be able to make friends. "I'm in."

"Great!" Amanda exclaimed. "But we're actually done for today. Here's a schedule and my phone-number." She handed Hermione a sheet.

"Thanks."

Hermione walked out of the room with the rest of the team, who was asking her about her old school and what other classes she took, but when they made the turn to go to the parking lot and she made a turn to go to the field, they bid their farewells.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Nine

Hermione and Draco began to develop a schedule for their weekdays as they went on. It was their second week and they were both already making friends, but hardly ever saw one another.

At first, they would drive to school together. During sixth and seventh period, they would practice American football and for the academic club, each doing their own thing. Hermione would wait for Draco after school and drive them home after practice.

Now, however, Draco usually left early in the morning to get some extra workout in, so either he would take the car and Hermione would get a ride from Amanda or Josh (or Tom, who went together) or one of his teammates would give Draco a ride and Hermione would take the car, sometimes picking up Amanda or Josh and Tom. After school it was the same thing. Draco would take the car home and if she had Academic Team practice, Hermione would get a ride from one of her own teammates, but if she didn't then Josh or Tom would give her a ride home…if they didn't have detention, in which case she would take the car and Draco would get a ride from one of his teammates.

Hermione and Draco were upset that they were growing apart, but they still sometimes had dinner together, or saw each other between practices and showers and sleep and work and on Sunday they had dinner together and watched TV.

School, though, they were completely apart. Hermione spent most of her school time with Tom and/or Josh or members of the academic team while Draco was with the jocks and cheerleaders.

Most of Hermione's classes were with her teammates, but she almost always ate lunch with Tom and Josh and spent most of her weekend with them, besides, most of her teammates took extra classes on the weekends.

One day, while Hermione was driving home with Tom and Josh to work on their project, Tom turned to Josh and asked, "So did you find out?"

Josh's parents were usually out of town during Halloween, so he always threw a party on Halloween night. This year, though, they were thinking about staying home.

"Yeah, they're staying home." He turned to Tom. "How about-"

"Nope. They're spending the night waiting by the door for trick or treaters." Tom rolled his eyes. "How exciting."

"I would suggest my house, but I'm not so sure that it would be a good idea with all the kids that live in the area," Hermione said. "How about your basement?"

(A/N WOW, I WROTE THIS SO LONG AGO…BEFORE HALLOWEEN EVEN. I'M GOING TO TRY TO UPDATE MORE FREQUENTLY AND MAKE THIS CHAPTER HAVE ALL THE TIME I'VE MISSED. SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT)

"Let's just crash Julie's party?" Tom suggested.

"This sucks," Josh said. "I know!" He bolted upright in the back seat. "The woods!"

"The woods?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah!" Tom agreed. "It's perfect!"

"And I'm lost."

"Oh, sorry Hermione," Tom apologized. "There's a piece of the woods where everyone goes to after pep rally and prom and such. It's right by your house."

"Plus the clearing is perfect for Halloween." Josh added. "Let's go check it out."

The next week Hermione fell down the stairs on her way to breakfast.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked, rushing to her side to help her up.

"Oh, yes, thank you. Good morning."

"Good morning." He picked up her book from the floor and handed it to her.

"Thanks." It was then that it hit Hermione that she and Draco hadn't spent much time together over the past few weeks, and it was only a few days before Halloween. "Are you doing anything on Halloween?"

Draco looked at her, thinking about how beautiful she was and wondering how they'd grown apart over the past few weeks. "Er, I don't know. I think I heard the guys talking about a party, but I'm not sure. Why?"

"Oh, well, Tom, Josh and I are throwing a party in the clearing in the woods if you want to come."

"I'll ask the guys. Thanks."

HONKHONK

"That's Lindsay and Jordan," Draco said. "Do you want a ride to school?"

"Um," Hermione thought for a minute, "sure. Thanks. Let me just get my bag."

Hermione ran up the stairs and grabbed her knapsack from her bed. She took a quick look in her mirror to make sure she looked all right. Her hair was straight with a little bit from the front pulled back, she wasn't wearing any make-up, and she was wearing her favorite black leggings and red sweater with a wide, bronze belt. She put on a bit of clear lip-gloss and rushed downstairs where Draco was waiting for her at the door.

"Linds, Jord, this is Hermione," Draco said as he opened the door for Hermione. "She's the girl I'm staying with in the house."

"Hey," Jordan said, not looking up from his book.

Lindsay, a thin girl with wispy blonde hair and large blue eyes, gave Hermione a negative look-over. "You're the girl who hangs out with Tom and John, right?"

Jordan's head shot up. He turned around and looked at Hermione. "You're in my math class, right?" Hermione nodded. "What did you get for the second homework question?"

"What was it again?"

"A ball is thrown upwards at thirty miles per second, from the problem thing from yesterday. How high does it go and how long is it in the air?"

Hermione opened her book and gave Jordan the answer.

"Thanks."

"Well it looks like we have a new Amanda," Lindsay said almost bitterly.

Hermione looked down in her lap and blushed.

"Lighten up Linds," Draco said.

Lindsay pulled into the school parking lot, where Tom and John were just pulling into the next spot.

"Hermione!" Tom called, knocking on the window.

Hermione rolled her eyes as Tom pretended to look into the car like he couldn't see her. "Thanks for the ride Lindsay, and Jordan, if you need any more help-"

"Thanks."

Hermione stepped out of the car, but turned back around to get her bag. "Draco, are you coming?"

Draco nodded his head and grabbed his book. "Thanks Linds. I'll see you guys second."

"So you're Draco?" Tom asked after Hermione introduced everyone.

"Yeah. Pleasure."

The talk was almost kept to a minimum on the way to class. It was obvious that Draco was warned not to talk to them by his friends.

"So what's the deal with Draco?" John asked later at lunch.

Hermione looked up from her sandwich at Josh. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, there's just something about him."

Hermione shrugged and took a sip of her chocolate milk. "He's just a little stressed out from working so hard with the team."

Josh shrugged and looked out at the football team on the field.

Halloween rolled along and Hermione, Josh and Tom had planned the whole day; so did the football team.

Hermione woke up an hour early to put on her costume. She was going as a flapper and Josh and Tom were dressing up like a bootlegger and mob boss.

The day was nothing bit pranks from the two groups: pranks and candy. Everyone was in costume and, from what Hermione could tell, the football team and cheerleaders planned to be saloon girls and zombie cowboys. Hermione expected everything to be much scarier, but apparently the principal forbid scary costumes.

The party that night started at eight and went until one-thirty in the morning. People came and went at the most random times.

(A/N I WANTED TO HAVE SOME MORE ABOUT THE PARTY, BUT, LIKE I SAID, I WANT TO MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME, SO EVERYONE HAD A GOOD TIME AND I'LL TRY TO HAVE PEOPLE TALK ABOUT IT)

On the twenty-fifth of November, Tom, Josh and Hermione were driving to Hermione and Draco's house when Tom invited Hermione to Thanksgiving dinner with his family.

"My parents are actually from New York," he told her from shotgun. "We lived there until I was six, then moved here. Every year we have Thanksgiving dinner, though, and I get to invite whoever I want. Plus, if I stay until dessert I get my dad's car without a curfew for the rest of November and December. And believe me, it's _much_ better than mine and Josh's."

"And if he doesn't put his grandpa's hairpiece on the cat again," Josh said, "we get to use his parent's apartment in New York during December vacation to watch the ball drop."

"That sounds like so much fun," Hermione said from the backseat. "I am so there."

That Thursday, Hermione told Draco that she was planning on staying over at Tom's house. Josh came over to pick her up to take her to school so Draco could have the car over the weekend. Josh and Hermione were planning on staying at Tom's house Thursday through Sunday.

Draco was a little upset that Hermione was going to be gone. He had planned on asking her to have dinner Saturday night to catch up.

After school, Hermione walked Tom and Josh to detention before going off to her academic team practice. The two were caught trying to sneak into sixth period late.

"Hey Hermione, what's with the smile?" Ginette asked as Hermione stepped into the classroom.

"I'm going to Tom's house for Thanksgiving dinner after school today," Hermione told her.

"Ooh, does someone have a crush?" Amanda asked with a giggle.

"No girl talk," Harrison, a short tenth grader, said. "Some of us want to win this year."

"Harrison," Margaret, a curvy eleventh grader, said. "this is your second competition, and you missed one from last year because you had an anxiety attack an hour before."

Everyone laughed at Harrison and resumed to the practice tests. Hermione loved her little team. They were so open and playful.

"So Hermione," Jackson, a wiry senior, said, snapping Hermione out of her thoughts, "are you going to come for pizza on Monday? We always go out for dinner on the night of our first competition."

"Sure."


	11. Smells Like Teen Dating

Chapter Ten: Smells Like Teen Dating

"Please pass the gravy Thomas," Mrs. York said.

Tom passed the bowl of gravy down the table to his mother. Hermione was deep in conversation with Tom's older brother, Demitri. She found out that Tom was the second youngest of six siblings. The oldest was Mandy, who was the only girl, who was home from grad-school in America. All of his other brothers were either in university or primary school. Demitri was in his second year at Oxford with his brother A.J.

"So what do you think about Thanksgiving?" John asked Hermione, snapping her out of her conversation about "The Great Gatsby."

She turned around and smiled. "Well, it's different, that's for sure. I didn't realize that Tom had such a large family."

There were at least six people at the table besides Tom's immediate family. Hermione was also shocked that there were enough rooms in the house for everyone to have their own room, not that she was sleeping in her own room.

"Hermione," she turned to face Tom's father, "Demitri just told me that you are on the athletic team at school. I remember when I was your age. They called me Captain C-"

"Dad," Tom jumped in, "pass the turkey."

"Tommy Boy doesn't like me to talk about my glory days."

"None of us do dad," Mandy laughed.

"So you were getting along great with Demitri at dinner," John joked while Hermione brushed her teeth.

"Oh fut up," Hermione said with a mouth full of foam. She finished brushing her teeth and slammed the door on her friend's face to change into her pajamas.

"If you think she's going to make a move on my brother, then you must be thinking the same thing that I am," Tom joked.

Hermione threw her dirty shirt at them from the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

"Oh but we're forgetting about her lovely roommate, _Draaco_," John sang.

Hermione stepped out of the bathroom with a blush on her cheeks.

"Aw, she's bwushing," Tom teased. "We'll stop."

"Oh shut up," Hermione repeated. "Just get the damn movies and I'll grab the food."

Hermione grabbed the leftover desserts and snacks form the kitchen, leaving her with poor balance as she slowly made her way down the stairs to the basement where she, John and Tom were going to be sleeping.

"Need some help?" she heard Tom say.

"Well since it's your fault that I have so much, that would be ni-oh, sorry." It turned out that she'd been talking to Damien rather than Tom, but didn't notice until he took most of the snacks from her hands that were blocking her vision. "Hi."

Damien smiled and laughed. "Hi. It's okay, I got 'em." He took the rest of the snacks from her arms. "You go ahead. If I fell, I'd bring you down with me."

Hermione giggled as she headed down the stairs. "You'd knock me over anyway genius."

"Well, that does make sense," Damien said, "but that doesn't matter because we're here. Where do you need the, er, snacks?"

Hermione looked around. The room was enormous. There was a big screen television in front of several couches and beanbag chairs and a coffee table. Off to the side were a foosball table, ping-pong table and pinball machine. To her other side was two refrigerators and an open doorway leading to a pantry filled with more food and drinks. Around the room, though, there was a desk and computer, filing cabinet, and countless pictures of Tom and his family. She pointed at one of the tables behind a couch. "That's good. Thanks."

"No problem," Damien said. "My friends and I used to practically live down here. I'm glad it's being put to some use other than parties, though, looking at how much food you have here…"

Hermione laughed and looked around. "We're growing kids. We need our nourishment."

Damien laughed and almost instantly they could hear footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Woah, I do not need to see my older brother hitting on my friend where I'm going to sleep," Tom said as he and John walked into the room. "If you two want to shag, there's a perfectly good bedroom where I'm sure Damien has a lot of condoms stored upstairs."

Damien rolled his eyes and walked towards the stairs. "I'm heading out tomorrow night little bro, you might want to be a little nicer to me or else I might tell mum and dad that my friends and I intend on being in New York City for New Year's. Good night." With that he headed upstairs to his room, "Have fun kids. Good luck Hermione."

Everyone laughed and began their first night together.

They spent the rest of the weekend watching movies, making crude comments, stories and jokes, and eating. They only left the house on the last night when they decided to sneak out to go to a club, that had, unbeknownst to them, burned down the week before, so they ended up walking around the tube stations, getting on and off at random places to go in a completely different direction, until two in the morning when they realized that they had first class in six hours.

When Hermione stepped into the school that Monday, she instantly began looking for Draco, but there was going to be a pep rally that afternoon, so the football team, she still couldn't believe that there was an American Football team, was taken out of their morning classes to prepare something.

"Looking for someone?" Hermione heard behind her as she separated from Tom and John for second period. She turned around and saw Amanda looking at her. "Don't even bother. He's a jock. I heard that he made out with half of the cheerleaders this weekend. He isn't worth your time."

Hermione politely smiled at Amanda. "Are you serious?" she said with a smile. "We're just friends."

"Sure, but be careful."

Hermione was grateful when the substitute teacher walked in then to begin the lesson.

At two o'clock, Hermione filed into the gymnasium with the rest of the student body and a lot of members of the community. She looked around for either the academic team, who were planning on practicing during the pep rally, or Tom and John, who had to be threatened with expulsion if they pulled a prank.

"Hermione!"

Hermione looked around and saw Draco sticking his head into the gym through a door to the boy's locker room. She ran over, thinking about what Amanda had said before.

"Hi," she said.

Draco looked around behind her. "There's a lot of people out there."

Hermione looked around. He was right. The bleachers were packed and there was so much noise from the people, she could barely hear her own thoughts. "Yeah," she agreed. "How was your weekend?"

"It was okay," Draco said with a shrug. He refused to make eye contact with her. "How was yours? Did you have fun?"

Hermione smiled at the memories. "Loads. We only left his basement to get food or lost on the underground, haha."

"Sounds interesting," Draco said with a laugh. "Maybe we should try that some time. Er, well, I mean we should just be lazy for days, I mean-"

Hermione laughed. "I get what you mean." What could Amanda have been talking about? There was nothing wrong with her friendship with Draco. Yes, they drifted apart a bit before, but they were still friends.

"MALOY! GET IN HERE!" they heard from behind him.

Draco shrugged. "I guess I have to go. Wish me luck." He wanted to kiss her, but held himself back. It was so empty without Hermione in the house that weekend, even though they didn't usually spend too much time together. He ended up staying over at Coop's, whose parents weren't home, so most of the football team and cheerleaders were there all weekend, completely piss drunk. He wouldn't lie and say that he didn't have fun, but he was disappointed about his plans for himself and Hermione falling through before he even got the chance to ask her.

Hermione watched his head begin to disappear. "Wait," she said. When he looked at her, she turned her feelings and desire to wrap her arms around him to end up in a kiss into, "What is this even for?"

"We got into some tournament for the first time in fifteen years," Draco explained.

"Congratulations."

"Hermione!" they heard Tom call from a few yards away.

"Well, I guess we're both wanted," Hermione said.

"I guess."

"Bye."

"Bye. Wait." Hermione turned around. "Er, would you like to have dinner tonight? With me, I mean."

Hermione smiled and tried not to let her heart jump out of her chest to do the Macarena. "Sure."

"MALOY!"

Draco chuckled and shook his head. "I guess I'm needed. Bye."

"Bye."

Draco slowly turned around and Hermione watched as the door closed.

"Hey you," Tom said, throwing his arm around her.

Hermione looked up at Tom. There was something familiar about his boyish features in his manly body and playful personality. He was protective at the right times, if not a bit more protective than John.

She looked up and smiled. "Tom! Where have you been? I haven't seen you in almost an hour!"

Tom laughed at her. His eyes sparkled when he smiled. "Sorry, but I think the teachers would find it to be a bit odd if I was sitting in your class when I'm supposed to be on the opposite side of the school?"

Hermione giggled. "Hm, that's a good point. Where's John?"

Tom led her under the stands, his arm still around her shoulder, where John was waiting with his knapsack.

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked at her friends. "What are you guys planning?" She knew by now that their knapsacks almost _never_ carried books.

"Oh nothing," John said innocently, "but you might want to tell your boyfriend that he might want to look out."

Hermione blushed. "Shut up. He's not my boyfriend, but we are having dinner," she finished slowly.

"I smell date," John teased.

"Are you kidding me?" Tom scoffed. "Didn't you guys hear about what went on at Coop's this weekend?"

Hermione thought back to what Amanda told her earlier that day. "No, what happened?"

Before John could stop him, Tom started telling Hermione everything he'd heard in the past seven hours. Draco and the varsity cheerleaders, Draco and the junior varsity cheerleaders. Draco and the eggs. Draco and the toilet paper. Everything a stereotype, teenage jock was expected to do when their friend's parents weren't home and it didn't make Hermione too excited about dinner.

"I even heard that he's dating the head cheerleader now," Tom added. "What's her name?" he asked John.

"Marie."

Hermione felt her face turn red. "Well that's an interesting weekend," she said, not knowing what else to say. "So how about we ditch this and whatever you guys have planned and go back to my place?"

"You sure Hermione?" John asked with a grin. "It's pretty damn good."

Hermione smiled. "Come on." She took John by the hand and let Tom keep his arm around her shoulders and led them out the back door.


	12. NotSoPep Rally

Chapter Eleven

Draco looked around the gym as soon as the pep rally was over for Hermione. He knew that there were rumors going around the school and wanted to let her know the truth. He did get drunk and he did make out with a lot of girls, but it was a tradition.

Before any school function involving the team, they would have an all-jock and cheerleader party and one teammate would be chosen by the captain to be the prince. Every cheerleader had to give him a good-luck kiss, while he was blindfolded, and he would have to pick one to be the princess. For the rest of the evening, they would be treated favorably and take part in all sorts of traditions. Every girl he kissed, though, he wished was Hermione.

The weekend was still fun, and, as the prince, he would choose who was throwing the next party; he just had to get through an evening with Hermione without her hating his guts.

Hermione looked up at the ceiling and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Tom asked from beside her on the couch.

"I have absolutely no idea," she said with a chuckle, which was joined by Tom.

"What are we doing?" he asked in a dazed voice. They had been slouching on the couch for over an hour without moving to do anything. John was now in the next room getting snacks.

"I have absolutely no idea."

Tom let out a deep breath. He liked Hermione; she was like one of the guys, but in a girl sort of way. Plus she was so smart. And innocent, but not. He looked around the room and tried to stand up.

"Why is the floor spinning?" he asked.

Hermione snorted and fell off the couch. They weren't high, but completely brain-dead. Or were they just drunk? Hermione had no idea what was going on, but she couldn't stop laughing and Tom knew that the floor wasn't staying still.

Hermione closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing. When she was feeling normal again, she stood up and straightened out her clothes.

"Hermione, you need to go shopping for food," John said, walking in with a bag of chips. He flopped onto the armchair and stuffed a handful of potato chips into his mouth.

"She's probably out with those two-oh look, there she is."

Hermione, Tom and John looked up at the door. Draco had just walked in with Jordan, Coop, Curt and Jim.

Draco felt a blush come to his cheeks. He didn't want Hermione to know that he was wondering where she was, but she looked like she was hiding the red that was coming to _her_ cheeks and he couldn't help but smile.

"Hello Hermione," he said, walking over to the friends.

"Hi Draco," she replied brightly. "How was the pep rally?"

Draco walked around the couch, not taking his eyes off of her.

"Distraction free, for once," Josh said, looking at Tom and John.

The two boys looked at each other. "Well what a coincidence. The first year we don't go to see it and those evil pranksters don't strike."

"They must have graduated."

Hermione giggled at the boys.

"What are you three up to?" Draco asked Hermione.

"Just hanging around," she said. "Watching the floor move. Care to join?"

Draco laughed and looked around at the junk food that had already been pulled out before the potato chips. "Thanks, but we have to study for some test tomorrow."

"You mean the physics test we had a week to study for?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, that's the one," Jordan said absentmindedly as me made his way into the kitchen. "What's this formula again?" he asked Coop.

"How am I supposed to know?"

Hermione walked over to the boys and looked over Coops' shoulder. "That's for rotational motion."

"Thanks."

Hermione walked back to the couch and put a potato chip in her mouth.

The boys walked into the kitchen, Draco in the back.

"Don't forget about tonight," he said, almost embarrassed.

Hermione smiled and nodded.

Four Hours Later

Hermione said "good-bye" to Tom and John after several hours of hanging around and one hour of the boys copying her homework. She turned around and leaned against the closed door with her eyes closed. As soon as the other boys left, she would be left alone with Draco. The problem, though, was that she didn't know what she was going to say after hearing everything she did from her friends.

"I'm done!" she heard Jim exacerbate from the next room. There was the sound of books slamming shut and papers fluttering around.

Hermione walked into the kitchen and looked over at the boys who were sitting around the table. "Do you guys need some help?"

"No thanks Hermione," Draco said. "If we don't have it now, we won't get it by tenth period."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "We do this sort of stuff on the academic team." Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione could have sworn that she saw Coop roll his eyes.

"We're sure." This time it was Jim. There was a bit of an edge to his tone.

"Let's just leave," Curt said. "Draco's right about us not getting it. If we don't have it after four hours of studying, we won't have it in time for the test. Maybe the teacher will give us a break because of the pep rally."

The other boys nodded and packed up their stuff. Draco walked them to the door leaving Hermione to go back to her thoughts.

What was she going to do? What was she going to say? She wouldn't just be another notch on his belt!

"Hermione." She turned around and looked at Draco.

"Hi," she breathed.

He took a few steps towards her with his hands in his pockets. "So."

Hermione smiled nervously, but hid it and turned around, facing the kitchen. "Er, what are you in the mood for?"

Draco walked up beside her. She could feel his breath from inches away. "Why don't you go sit down. I'll make us something."

She nodded and walked over to the couch, where she sat down and waited for twenty minutes.

"Pizza bagels, pasta with sauce and two sodas," Draco announced as he put the tray down on the coffee table and sat beside Hermione on the couch.

She smiled at him and shoved a pizza bagel into her mouth. "HOT!" She chugged her soda and swallowed the pizza bagel. "Delicious."

Draco burst out into laughter as he handed her a napkin to wipe the tears from her eyes.

Hermione began to laugh too, forgetting her reservations about Draco and all the rumors.

The evening went great. They caught up on the past few weeks, school, learned a little more about each other.

"I still haven't heard about your weekend," Draco said with a grin.

Hermione told him about her time with Tom and John, which was met with a laugh.

"I still can't believe you hang out with them. After all that I've heard about them, they seem like _such_-"

"What?" Hermione snapped back. "From what I've heard, your friends aren't the best of blokes to spend your tine with. Waste is more like it."

"That is that supposed to mean?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. Joking led to actual feeling. Soon she let him know what she had heard about his weekend, his friends' attitudes towards her. Draco shot back the fact that her nose was always in a book or she had the "Blunder Twins," as everyone called them, at her side at all times.

After what felt like an eternity, Hermione was tired of everything and yelled, "I told everyone from the team that they were wrong about you, but apparently they knew you better than your own housemate! We're supposed to be friends, or at least not think this about one another! I can't believe I thought this was going to work out!"

She stormed up the stairs and into her room. The last thing she heard that night was, "At least I'm not some fucking pussy bookworm who sticks to the first two boys who offer a good time!"

A/N Sorry it took me so long to update and that I had to do this to the two teens. It was actually my plan all along for them to hate each other, try to get it to be like it was at Hogwarts. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed Deathly Hallows and please review! I hope to actually make the next chapter somewhat decent.


End file.
